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Any Windows executable programs that display icons must use the ICO format for those icons. Icons can have transparent areas, which allows you to create icons with rounded corners or circular outlines, or to remove any background colors. If converting your image from a transparent GIF to the ICO format results in loss of transparency, you may need to use a specialized program.

Icons

The Windows operating system recognizes files with the extension .ico as icons. Web browsers also use the .ico extension in files called favicon.ico, which are icons for websites you save as favorites on your browser. Your browser shows these icons in the address bar, next to the URLs of your favorite websites. ICO files are not images, but rather packages that can include several of the same icon at different sizes, such as 16 by 16 pixels or 64 by 64 pixels.

GIF to ICO

Images in the Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF, are not recognized as icons by Windows or your browser, so while you can create an icon using the GIF format, you must convert it to the ICO format. You can do this with online converters such as Favicon.cc, which allow you to convert normal images to a favicon for use on your website (see Resources). In addition, though image-editing software such as Photoshop do not include support for this format by default, you can install plugins that can save images as icons.

Transparency

Transparency is an attribute that is not supported by all image types. Supported images can have transparent areas that allow you to see through the images to the content behind them. GIF and ICO files are capable of displaying transparency; however, you may lose transparency when converting your GIF to an icon -- your icon will instead display a solid-colored background. For example, this is common with IrFanView, a free application for creating icons.

Solution

Create your transparent GIF in your graphics editor and save it to your computer. If you are working on a favicon, import it to a site such as Favicon.cc, which retains transparency when converting to an icon. If you are working with a larger Windows icon, use a program such as SnIco Edit to convert GIFs to icons without losing transparency. Icon Constructor is a similar program that allows you to convert images without transparency loss. It's available for a one-time free of $40, as of the time of publication, but you can try it for free. The ICO file plugin for Photoshop from Telegraphics supports transparency when converting GIFs or PNGs to icons, but you must save your icons as layered RGB images in Photoshop 6 or later, or save flattened images with multiple alpha channels.

About the Author

Nicole Martinez began writing in 2010 and has since been published on various websites. She primarily writes about computer- and internet-related topics, especially those concerning website maintenance and programming.